what needs to be done with my carbeurators?

[Anonymous]

ohkay i have a gs 550 around 1982. i took apart the fuel gravity fed thing on the gas tank and cleaned out the very gummed up diaphragm gravity feed i dont know what chu call it thing, but mypoint is that it must haev been sitting for a few years. it ran after that, but only when the choke is on. it runs perfectly, until i let the choke off, then it dies. when i engage the throttle, it stops also. the carbeurators dont leak however. im hoping i dont have to rebuild the carbeurators. any advice on what to do would be great, thanks, Nate

[Billy Ricks]

If the petcock was varnished up so are the carbs. Don't fool yourself, get busy cleaning them up.

[argonsagas]

If the petcock was varnished up so are the carbs. Don't fool yourself, get busy cleaning them up.

Solid advice.

You may not need to rebuild the carbs, but you unquestionably must clean them thoroughly.

[Billy Ricks]

You may not need to rebuild the carbs, but you unquestionably must clean them thoroughly.

Most of the brass parts should clean up okay. The most you are likely to need would be an o-ring set. Use the carb cleanup series on the homepage of this site as a guide.

[Anonymous]

carbs cleaning

ohkay, i am fairly inexperienced with carbeurators, ie why i didnt really want to rebuild them. the carbs im familiar with are vw beetle carbeurators, and small engine carbs, (engiens with only 1 carbeurator as opposed to four). once i take the carbeurators off, am i going to have to synchronize them after i clean them? if so how difficult is that. if not what must not do to not have to synchronize them? , thanks for the advice, Nate

[Anonymous]

Easily done but you'll need a four-by manometer.

Get a Clymer manual if you don't already have one. Very handy.

Michael

[chuckycheese]

Synch

If they're in synch now and you don't change any of the settings when you separate them, it may not be necessary to synch them when you're finished.

I'd take 'em apart, clean 'em good and change any necessary parts (maybe only a few of the "O" rings). After that, I'd fire that puppy up and if it runs really good, I wouldn't do anything except ride it. 8)

[Anonymous]

settings

ohkay i removed the carbs about 20 mintues ago, they look like they could use a good cleaning. so whcih setting do i not want to change, if I take the linkage apart will that desync them, or by settings do you mena like the mixture and idle screws and stuff?

[Billy Ricks]

You don't need to seperate the carbs from the rack to clean them up. Remove everything that will come out of the carbs. That's jets, slides, anything you can get out. Be very careful prying the pins out to get the floats off. You can break the towers the pin goes through if you're not careful. Use the carb cleanup series on the homepage to guide you. Your carbs may be slightly different but close enough.

Soak all the parts you can get out of the carbs in dip type carb cleaner. Then get a spray type cleaner to spray through all the little passages in the carb bodies. You'll need two or three cans to get them cleaned up. You may need some small guage wire to run through some of the passages to help clear them out.

If you're not confident you can do the job I'd be happy to do it for you. Just pay for the shipping both ways, send maybe $10 for cleaning supplies, and the rest is free. They can be bench synched so that even if you don't sync them with guages right away they will be in the ballpark. Synching has the most effect at idle and small throttle openings. You can trust me. I've given spare parts I had to some of the people here.

[Anonymous]

I must say that was a generous offer by the last responsee...
I'd trust him simply from the genuine sincerity read here, online.

Having recently cleaned my carbs myself, and having f---ed them up a small bit, I'd actually consider this offer if I was you. Cleaning the carbs is not the hard part. It's the troubleshooting that goes with putting them back on and listening with expectant ears as you anxiously hit the start button...c'mon baby, please fire.....

If you had them cleaned and synchronized by somoene that professes to know what they're doing, and even better by someone who simply, altruitstically cares about the health of your beautiful bike, you would feel more confident when mounting those bad boys and listening for that purr.

[Anonymous]

subject

everything works now that i took them apart and cleaned them all. thanks for the advice, Nate